Thursday, November 15, 2018

"More Sarah Davis" is NOT the solution for Texas Republicans

"having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!"2 Timothy 3:5

The Resurgent has a piece this morning about the GOP's national challenges this past election revealed. We agree with a lot of what the author had to say. But it gets bizarre when the author turns to Texas:

Let’s look at a few success stories of moderate Republicans surviving in blue country.

1) Sarah Davis, a Texas state representative in Houston’s inner suburbs, survived 2018 even as the Republican Congressman went down to defeat:

Meanwhile, Culberson’s most problematic precincts relative to 2016 also fell inside House District 134, where Republican state Rep. Sarah Davis staved off Harris County’s blue wave to win re-election by almost seven points.

While Davis was winning by seven, Culberson lost by 5. She did that with a record of good governance while chairing the Appropriations Subcommittee on Health & Human Services as well as the General Investigating & Ethics Committee.

Notably, Davis doesn’t thrill many GOP activists, including as she:

was on this year’s list of Texas Monthly’s best legislators (not for any partisan or ideological reason, but because she was an effective lawmaker). Davis has called herself a “rational Republican,” and if you look at Rice University political scientist Mark Jones’ Texas House liberal/conservative ranking, you’ll find that there is no Democrat to the right of Davis and no Republican to her left. She is the very definition of purple in the Texas House. [emphasis added in original]

She’s clearly no Trump Republican. Governor Greg Abbott helped lead an effort defeat her in her primary, including because of her Investigations & Ethics work. He failed.

​What’s more notable perhaps in her win amidst a tide of suburban blue was her platform:

“I have been a leading champion in the Texas House for women’s health, including providing more funding for cancer screening and preventive care,” said Davis. “I passed bills to make government more transparent and accountable to taxpayers, and supported a balanced budget that improves our roads and schools, invested a record amount in border security, and set aside $11 billion in the state’s ‘Rainy Day Fund’ in the event of a fiscal emergency.”

Notably not on the agenda: immigration, tax cuts, culture war issues, or even a hint of Trumpiness.

Not only did it work electorally, Davis survived in a district that the Houston Chronicle noted in its endorsement of her:

[she] fits well with her wealthy, highly educated constituents, who have a habit of voting for candidates instead of parties. In 2012 the district went for Mitt Romney by 15 points. In 2016 Hillary Clinton won by 15 points — and Davis did about as well.

Davis might not be at the critical mass of the Republican party under Trump, but she’s exactly the kind of suburban Republican the party needs nationally to retain a governing majority in Congress.
Moreover, there’s something to be said for running on a platform that appeals broadly to your constituents, not just the base…let alone a Trumpy one.

Yeah, not so much.

First things first: It's cute to hear Sarah Davis of all people bragging about protecting the Rainy Day Fund when she led the charge to raid it last session.

It's absolutely true that Republicans have to do a better job talking about immigration. It's also true that, while they should oppose excesses of PC/woke culture, Texas Republicans have fallen into an intellectually lazy rut over culture war issues. But Sarah Davis is the answer for neither of those issues.

Sarah Davis claims to be "fiscally conservative/socially moderate." But she's not. Property taxes are a gigantic issue in Harris County. And Sarah Davis has never lifted a finger to address them.

Technically, Sarah Davis has filed a few CYA bills related to property taxes. But those bills never go anywhere (because of the leadership Sarah Davis has supported). We didn't even know Davis had filed those bills until we checked while writing this blog post.

Bottom Line: There are definitely things that need to be done differently in suburban areas; turning a blind eye to property taxes while promoting more government involvement in health care are not those things....